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Bollinger Shipyards said it has been awarded contracts to build four additional Sentinel-Class Fast Response Cutters (FRC) for the U.S. Coast Guard, bringing the total number of FRCs awarded to the Louisiana shipbuilder up to 60 vessels since the program’s inception. The Coast Guard’s Program of Record is to procure 64 FRCs.All four of the newly awarded FRCs will be built at Bollinger’s Lockport, La. facility and are scheduled to be delivered in 2022 and 2023. Three of the four will be homeported in Alaska and the fourth in Boston.“It’s a great honor to have the confidence of the U.S. Coast Guard to continue the work we’re doing,” said Bollinger Shipyards President & CEO Ben Bordelon.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is building a new hub for unmanned systems prototyping, production and testing to meet growing demand from the U.S. Navy for autonomous and uncrewed systems.The purpose-built Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence will include two buildings totaling over 150,000 square feet constructed on a 20-acre campus in Hampton, Va., the U.S.'s largest military shipbuilder said in announcing the center's groundbreaking on Tuesday.“With U.S. Navy’s increasing demand for UUVs and USVs, we are committed to investing in and expanding our unmanned systems capabilities,” said Andy Green, HII executive vice president and president of Technical Solutions.

Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Knud E. Hansen has introduced a new 144-meter-long icebreaking expedition cruise vessel design with accommodations for up to 300 passengers in 150 cabins.Designed to achieve a service speed of 17 knots in open water, and with the ability to operate in solid multi-year ice of 1.8m thickness, the vessel has diesel electric propulsion, and two azipod-units, each 7.5 MW. The six generators have a combined power of approximately 23 MW and are fueled by a combination of marine diesel oil (MDO), and natural gas (LNG). There are two tunnel thrusters, each abt.

Classification society ABS said it is working with Israel Shipyards to approve the shipbuilder's 3D models as part of plan review of its 45-meter multi-mission Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV).“Israel Shipyards is our latest partner where we have been able to demonstrate how ABS can support the design and class review process using 3D models. This exciting project is another building block in our development of an end-to-end paperless class process, which is seeing us work with leading shipbuilders all over the world to realize the benefits of digital class for the industry,” said Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President of Global Engineering and Technology.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has paid $253,300 in penalties to the California Air Resources Board for violating the Ocean-Going Vessel At-Berth Regulation, which requires cargo ships to reduce emissions while docked at the state’s busiest ports, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Hueneme, San Francisco and San Diego.The violations were discovered during routine audits of the company’s 2017 and 2018 vessel fleet visits to the Port of Oakland. CARB’s investigation revealed that from 2017 to 2018, Mitsui O.S.K. Line’s Oakland fleet did not meet the three-hour diesel engine operational time limits, and did not reduce auxiliary engine power generation by 70% as is required.